We read some interesting wrestling news this week, and it landed at a pretty perfect moment.
“The Undertaker” recently said that wrestlers have gone too far in exposing the fact that professional wrestling is just a big show. Speaking on his podcast, “Six Feet Under”, he didn’t mince words when it came to kayfabe in the social-media era:
“I don’t like it. Everybody’s gonna, ‘Oh my God, it’s old school. That’s an old school guy trying to protect kayfabe.’ Look, I don’t care if it’s 2025, it’s 1990, or it’s 1984. Everybody understands what wrestling is, everybody knows. Ain’t no big veil been lifted. Except I don’t want to go see a magician and know how he’s doing everything.”
That quote couldn’t have come at a better time, because last night my son and I watched the “Royal Rumble 1990” on YouTube.
He’s 14, so he had to endure my historical commentary as each wrestler walked down the aisle… including some darker footnotes, like ,”Jimmy Superfly Snuka” and the story tied to Allentown, Pennsylvania. Wrestling hits different when you’re watching it through a historical lens instead of just as a kid on the living-room floor.
What struck me most, though, was how hard we were both laughing. “Dusty Rhodes” swinging his arms like a madman. “André the Giant” throwing punches that clearly never landed. It was ridiculous… and it was perfect.
We knew it was fake back then. As a kid, maybe I didn’t know how fake, but my parents absolutely did. And yet they still ordered the pay-per-views. They still made it a fun night. We watched, we cheered, they laughed, and nobody felt cheated. The pretending was part of the deal.
That’s where The Undertaker’s point really lands.
Today, everyone knows wrestling is a fraud… and not just a fraud, but a carefully scripted one. The seams are exposed constantly. It almost feels strange that fandom even exists when the audience is expected to acknowledge the con before they’re allowed to enjoy the entertainment.
It wasn’t always like that.
One of the greatest examples of that blurred line was “Stone Cold Steve Austin”, “Bret The Hitman Hart”.. Austin entered as the heel, Hart as the hero… but as Austin’s blood covered the mat, the crowd turned. The fans rejected the Hart Foundation and embraced the beer-guzzling rebel. That moment helped ignite the Attitude Era. It felt real. It felt organic. It felt like something no one could fully control… even though “Vince McMahon” absolutely could.
Then came the Montreal Screwjob in1997… That was the moment many of us truly understood it was all a setup. The magician walked us through the trick, step by step, and once you see that, you can’t unsee it.But wrestling can be very, very real. So real that it could cause death.. Owen Hart is the prime example. And that tragic night, Vince made the show go on despite wrestlers not wanting to.. It can be fake. But very real implication.
I don’t know what happens to wrestling in the future. It’s trying to evolve in a world where the illusion is gone and the audience is hyper-aware of the mechanics behind the curtain. For modern fans, you have to accept the con job first in order to enjoy the performance.
Back in the day, you didn’t have to do that. You could tell yourself there was at least a chance those punches landed. A sliver of doubt kept the magic alive. The storylines, the heel turns, the betrayals… they felt authentic, even if they weren’t real.
None of it was real.
But we were.
And maybe that’s what we’re really nostalgic for.
That is why we are reading a book called THE SIX PACK by Brad Balukjian. It is good so far. The Iron Sheik was one wild and crazy guy. A book report is forthcoming when we complete it..
